Monday, December 14, 2009

Before we move on to Round 4, I'd like to note an odd oddity: despite the last bullet point in the Round 3 Rules stating that "being a #1 or #2 seed doesn't matter," the four victors of the round - Jason, Keven C*, Wicks, and rbnlaw - were indeed the four #1 seeds.

*feels goose bumps crawl up spine*

Anyhow, about Round 4: It takes place tomorrow, and will have Jason and Keven C teaming up and going against the team of Wicks and rbnlaw. And today each team has a small task to complete:

Each participant must agree with his teammate on two separate 2-minute timeslots tomorrow (a total of four minutes per team) during which both team-members will be available.

The times chosen must be between 10am and 4pm PT (tomorrow).

Use today's comments section to discuss with your teammate.

The two timeslots chosen by each team can be completely different than the timeslots chosen by the other team. For example, Jason and Keven C may choose 10:31-10:32am and 2:15-2:16pm, while Wicks and rbnlaw might choose 12:30-12:31pm and 12:45-12:46pm.

So discuss here with your teammate when you'll each be available tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes, here are the rules:

During each of a team's two chosen 2-minute timeslots, the two members must alternate comments in the thread. The object is to have as many alternating comments during each 2-minute timeslot as possible.

Any comments not made by the two teammates are ignored, as well as any comments not made during any of the four relevant timeslots.

Once a given 2-minute timeslot has ended, the number of alternating comments are counted.

=Iif one member accidentally comments twice consecutively (i.e., without a comment from his teammate in between), that team's comment count ends right there. So for example if Jason/Keven C's comment sequence goes Jason, Keven C, Jason, Keven C, Jason, Keven C, Keven C, Jason, then their team scores 6 points in that timeslot, because on the 7th comment, Keven C screwed up the sequence. Good job, Keven C.

It doesn't matter which team-member begins the sequence, as long as subsequent comments alternate. But you might also want to discuss beforehand with your teammate who will begin each sequence.

As mentioned, each team has selected two timeslots. The higher score of the two timeslots (not the sum of the two timeslots) will be the team's final score.

Whichever team wins moves on to the Finals (at which point they will be forced to turn against each other...).

Ok, gentlemen. Discuss with your teammate your two timeslots (by the end of the discussion please be definitive about your selected times so I am not left unsure), and if you have any questions ask here. Then be sure to check back here tomorrow at 8:30am!

P.S. I will be without internet access until approximately noon PT, but any questions I will answer after then.

I'll be on here a couple minutes early and I'll fire off a "First hot potato post" so you know when to begin responding. If it's a minute early, I say we just roll with it and play out the full time as though the early posts count.

12:10 to 12:30 works for me. That would be in Pacific time correct? Sadly Im on the east coast so some math must be done hahahaha (3:10-3:30). Go ahead and pick the two min intervals and we can plan from there.